While busy in the kitchen, Liu and Old Han talked about planting crops in the spring. As true peasants, the two old women valued their few acres of meager land very much.
Hearing that they had just bought land, Old Han was quite envious. A few years ago, during the war, ordinary people were displaced and struggling to survive; who would know how to build a house? Old Wang and the others had no work, and with so many mouths to feed, plus the unfortunate fact that his second son's wife was about to have a baby, they sold two acres of prime paddy fields. She couldn't have been more reluctant to part with them!
This time, Old Wang made money, and his first thought was to buy the land back. Farmers always feel uneasy without land in their hands!
Although Old Wang and his son are skilled at building houses, they don't know if they'll have such work in the future. But as long as there's a livelihood in the fields, they don't have to worry about starving! At least their grandson can survive. With a stable livelihood, what is there to fear?
That night, after dinner, Liu was mending clothes under the lamp while chatting with Qin San Niang, "San Niang, what are you doing with our few acres of land?"
When she suddenly mentioned those few acres of land, Qin San Niang was a little stunned. Could she say that she had completely forgotten about it?
It really wasn't her fault. After all, she had been busy in the space fields, where the temperature was always constant and there were no seasons. She had unknowingly developed a misconception and completely forgot about clearing land and planting crops!
Seeing her eldest daughter's dazed look, what else could Liu not understand? She must have forgotten about it! These days she had come to realize that her daughter bore too much responsibility, and that it was better not to worry about these trivial matters.
Liu bit off the last thread and decided to speak frankly, "I talked to Old Han today, and she said that the wasteland looks quite fertile and we could plant two acres of rice! Rice is expensive, so we can earn more. We can plant some beans on the rest of the land to fertilize it! What do you think?"
A while ago, in order to cultivate the space soil, she had looked at some books on crop cultivation. She knew that soybeans would be ready to be planted in a while, and rice seedlings could be started now! She nodded and said.
"Of course, Mother, you decide. It would be great to plant rice in the two acres of land near the water! Rice tastes better than beans! By the way, shouldn't we start planting seedlings?"
Seedling cultivation, that's probably what it's called!
"What did you say about seedling cultivation? Where did you hear that from? I don't know either, since we didn't grow this before!" Back in her hometown, Liu had heard people from the south say that rice was grown here, and that rice could be pounded into rice, which was delicious!
However, her hometown is often arid and is a major production area for wheat, corn, and beans. As for rice? That's out of the question! So, Liu didn't understand or know anything about the seedling cultivation that Qin San Niang mentioned. She recalled that Old Han hadn't mentioned seedling cultivation beforehand, only that rice seeds could be directly sown in the paddy field. Could there be many ways to grow rice?
"This? I'll ask Old Han again later. She's a native of this area, and we didn't grow rice before, so it's always good to listen to her!" Liu made up her mind and decided to ask Old Han carefully the next day.
Qin San Niang thought for a moment. Perhaps the technology of rice seedling cultivation did not yet exist at this time. In any case, they came from the north. If she said that "seedling cultivation" was her own ingenious idea, she figured these people wouldn't take it to heart! If her family's rice yield was relatively high, others would follow suit, which would indirectly benefit the people!
Qin San Niang doesn't have any grand philanthropic sentiments; she just knows that farmers are having a really tough time these days. If she can help in any small way, even just by increasing the harvest a little, it might be able to pull her family back from the brink of death!
“Mother, this rice seedling cultivation method was something your eldest daughter heard about from the immortals! The immortals live on Sifang Mountain, where many rice plants are grown, and I saw that they did it this way.”
When the story of the immortals was brought up, Liu listened attentively. Then, Qin San Niang continued, "First, select suitable rice seeds and dry them for half a day. Then, use a small plot of land to cultivate the seedlings. When the seedlings grow to about eight centimeters tall, transplant them into the paddy field. Crops grown this way yield much higher yields than those grown using ordinary methods!"
Unfortunately, I had to bring up the idea of gods again, since her mother believed in it wholeheartedly!
Hearing that it was a method from the immortals, Liu listened with great reverence. So the mountain gate where the immortals lived was called Sifang Mountain? She just didn't know where that mountain was or how far it was. She would have to go there to offer incense in the future. As an orphan and a widow, she was able to survive in this chaotic world and was doing quite well now, all thanks to that old man!
“Amitabha, he really is a deity! Even his rice cultivation is different from that of mortals! However, his rice is celestial rice, which is different from our ordinary mortal rice. Third Sister, are you sure this method will work?” Liu did not doubt the credibility of the method, but she doubted that the seeds would work, which was quite a unique way of thinking.
Hearing Liu ask this question, Qin Sanniang choked for a moment, but now that she was a master swindler, she had to react incredibly fast.
“Mother, the gods said that rice in our mortal world can also be grown in this way. They hope I can try it. If it works, then let the world know. That would be my good deed.”
"Oh my, this is truly a wonderful deity! I'm going to burn incense and pray right now! Since that's the case, I'll listen to the deity! It can't be wrong!" With that, Liu put down the clothes she was holding and hurried off to the cupboard to find an incense burner...
The speed was so fast that Qin San Niang's hand, which was meant to stop her, froze in mid-air. This was too much trouble, especially so late at night! It was her fault; why did she have to choose to say it at night? Next time, she'd say it in the morning, so she wouldn't have to stay up all night again!
The next morning, everyone got up very early. Today was the day for the children to get back into school and for the private school to officially start classes.
Every household in Shiligou was filled with joy, especially those with children in school. Even those without children were in high spirits! They would eventually have children! Many children, amidst their parents' expectations and countless words of advice, entered the school.
Of course, as children on their first day of school, their faces were full of curiosity and their hearts were filled with excitement. Qin San Niang thought with a wicked sense of humor, "It would be a wonder if you could still be like this in a few days!"
Oh, kids, you're still too young!
The same goes for her children; except for Fatty, all the boys and girls went to school.
Fatty was getting on in years and didn't want to go to school; she preferred to stay home and work. After repeatedly consulting her, Wu Chunhua gave up on the idea. Besides, in her mind, Fatty was already fifteen years old (by the traditional Chinese age reckoning), and it was time for her to find a husband! Going to school was simply inappropriate.
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